Codes and Conventions

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

In my music magazine I used a number of existing codes and conventions seen throughout the music magazine industry. I also challenged a few. I will explain and

analyse the reasoning for the use of my codes and conventions in this short presentation.

Front CoverFront cover model. Large image of an artist/band placed in the centre of the page. Image is strong and eye catching/interesting.

The name of the front cover model/band in large font.

Cover lines at the edge of the page. However I have challenged this convention slightly and put all my cover lines at one side of the image, this was to make it look neater and to draw more attention to the photograph.

Barcode. Away to the side of the page. Indicates the price of the magazine. Following the convention and making my magazine look more professional.

Front Cover

MASTHEADI went with the conventions of a magazine mast head. Placed at the top of the page. I also went with placing my main cover image over the mast head as I saw many music magazines did this to emphasise the artist on the front cover. Although some magazines do this the opposite way round I still decided to stick with the convention.

URLMagazines often have their own website. This is an example of convergence advertising the website through further media. It is conventionally displayed on the front cover of the magazine. I have positioned mine underneath the masthead which is similar to where Q displays theirs.

Front Cover

I generally conformed to the various codes and conventions of existing music magazines when making my own. I did this because it makes my magazine have a ‘real feel’ and fits in with other existing music magazines. However when I did challenge the codes and conventions I did it because it fitted with the style of magazine i was attempting to make, for example; the cover lines are all in one space and at one side of the main image. This is because I didn’t want lots of text detracting from my main image which is this issue of the magazines selling point.

Contents Page

I generally conformed to the codes and conventions of a contents page. I have the natural layout of many music magazine contents page’. The ‘editors note’ is something that is sometimes used in magazines. I conformed to this whilst also gaining a relationship between the magazine and the reader.

Double page spreadWhen making my double page spread I tired to stick to the codes and conventions of existing music magazines. I used a large image that takes up the whole of one side. This is commonly used in double page spreads. The large image makes the article visually interesting.

I also stuck to presenting my article in columns. This is a convention of presenting an interview. It also males it easy to read and neat which is one of the aims for my magazine.